SI Seth Davis Mailbag-Tubby

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dingo

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I know that no one outside of Minnesota cares, but I really feel like Tubby Smith has been nothing short of brilliant during his brief tenure with the Golden Gophers. He took a program that was pretty much dead and turned it around in a hurry. While the team is not ready to shine yet (as was evident in their loss to IU), they have shown huge progress under Smith. Can Minnesota fans be optimistic about the future, or is Tubby still not enough to bring a Big Ten title to the Twin Cities?
-- Aaron Popowitz, Cottage Grove, Minn.

You think Tubby doesn't love coaching at Minnesota? Smith was never appreciated at Kentucky, even though he won an NCAA championship there and never finished his season short of the NCAA tournament's second round. Yet, at Minnesota he goes 17-19 in the Big Ten during his first two years and his team is currently 3-4 (12-7 overall) and I get an e-mail citing his team's "huge progress." That will get a guy through a cold Minneapolis winter.

I've made this point before, but if Tubby had a team in Lexington that endured the kind of turmoil his squad has dealt with this season, it would be a 24/7 soap opera. The reality is, Smith's players have had far too many off-court issues. It was questionable enough that he let freshman forward Royce White back on the team even though White has pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and theft for stealing clothes and shoving a mall security guard. Last week, White was also charged with misdemeanor trespassing in connection with an alleged theft of a laptop computer from another student's dorm room. (White is practicing with the team, but he has not played in a game.)

In addition, junior forward Trevor Mbakwe remains suspended while he awaits a court appearance on an aggravated battery charge, and last week the Gophers' starting point guard, Al Nolen, was declared academically ineligible and could be out the rest of the season pending an appeal. So forgive me if I don't see "huge progress." What I see instead is a program with far too many problems off the court.

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dingo said:
I know that no one outside of Minnesota cares, but I really feel like Tubby Smith has been nothing short of brilliant during his brief tenure with the Golden Gophers. He took a program that was pretty much dead and turned it around in a hurry. While the team is not ready to shine yet (as was evident in their loss to IU), they have shown huge progress under Smith. Can Minnesota fans be optimistic about the future, or is Tubby still not enough to bring a Big Ten title to the Twin Cities?
-- Aaron Popowitz, Cottage Grove, Minn.

You think Tubby doesn't love coaching at Minnesota? Smith was never appreciated at Kentucky, even though he won an NCAA championship there and never finished his season short of the NCAA tournament's second round. Yet, at Minnesota he goes 17-19 in the Big Ten during his first two years and his team is currently 3-4 (12-7 overall) and I get an e-mail citing his team's "huge progress." That will get a guy through a cold Minneapolis winter.

I've made this point before, but if Tubby had a team in Lexington that endured the kind of turmoil his squad has dealt with this season, it would be a 24/7 soap opera. The reality is, Smith's players have had far too many off-court issues. It was questionable enough that he let freshman forward Royce White back on the team even though White has pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and theft for stealing clothes and shoving a mall security guard. Last week, White was also charged with misdemeanor trespassing in connection with an alleged theft of a laptop computer from another student's dorm room. (White is practicing with the team, but he has not played in a game.)

In addition, junior forward Trevor Mbakwe remains suspended while he awaits a court appearance on an aggravated battery charge, and last week the Gophers' starting point guard, Al Nolen, was declared academically ineligible and could be out the rest of the season pending an appeal. So forgive me if I don't see "huge progress." What I see instead is a program with far too many problems off the court.

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Wow... Seth Davis is a *&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!#...
 

all those words

all those words but no correction to his false statement that the gophers beat the "Turner-less Buckeyes."

:p
 

Though I think we've definitely made progress since Tubby's arrival, it's hard to disagree with Davis on this one. He's obviously a pessimist, but a team with arguably 3 of their best 6 players (assuming White and Mbwake are as good as everyone thinks) suspended for prolonged periods of times obviously has way more than its share of issues.
 

Hard to argue with many of his points, even though its not what many want to hear. Although I agree with the decision to let RW practice with the team.
 


I like that Tubby's here, but there is no way this year can be spun to be anything other than a huge disappointment.

I do think Seth Davis is completely off the mark on the off court issues of this team. Mbakwe's situation happened before he ever set foot on the campus of Minnesota as a student. Royce White had one issue that was clearly significant at the Mall of America. The second incident? It sure doesn't seem like a big deal. Al Nolen failed to pass his classes, many teams have one player become academically ineligible at one point or another. Not having Mbakwe, White, and Nolen cost us a chance at a Big Ten title, but I don't think the off cour behavior (under Tubby's watch) has been terrible by an stretch.
 


EG#9 said:
I like that Tubby's here, but there is no way this year can be spun to be anything other than a huge disappointment.

I do think Seth Davis is completely off the mark on the off court issues of this team. Mbakwe's situation happened before he ever set foot on the campus of Minnesota as a student. Royce White had one issue that was clearly significant at the Mall of America. The second incident? It sure doesn't seem like a big deal. Al Nolen failed to pass his classes, many teams have one player become academically ineligible at one point or another. Not having Mbakwe, White, and Nolen cost us a chance at a Big Ten title, but I don't think the off cour behavior (under Tubby's watch) has been terrible by an stretch.
Click to expand...

Agree that 13-7 is a disappointing W-L record (I expected 17-3 at this point).

Seth Davis is a moron, the son of Lanny Davis from Clinton Adminstration. The apple is rotten just like the tree.
 




EG#9 said:
I like that Tubby's here, but there is no way this year can be spun to be anything other than a huge disappointment.

I do think Seth Davis is completely off the mark on the off court issues of this team. Mbakwe's situation happened before he ever set foot on the campus of Minnesota as a student. Royce White had one issue that was clearly significant at the Mall of America. The second incident? It sure doesn't seem like a big deal. Al Nolen failed to pass his classes, many teams have one player become academically ineligible at one point or another. Not having Mbakwe, White, and Nolen cost us a chance at a Big Ten title, but I don't think the off cour behavior (under Tubby's watch) has been terrible by an stretch.
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This season will be long looked at as a huge disaster if we fail to make the NCAA.

Mbakwe + Nolen + White = Bad coaching decisions, not poor Tubby. Two of these guys are new recruits.

Everything can be fixed with an additional PG and a successful follow up season, but we can't assume Royce, Mbakwe, or Al will be playing this year or next year. I sure hope they all do, but honestly that seems hopeful at best.

Tubby brought this team from the basement to a NCAA bubble team. He brings instant credibility. His teams this year have been in every game. That is great, but we all expected more during this season. But at the same time Tubby isn't a kill-shot recruiter. The best players in the nation are not dying to play for him.
 

White, Maybe So

But Mbakwe showed nothing to predict he would get in trouble (felony charges).

And Nolen made his own mistake(s), not Tubby or the other coaches.
 

callihan...If all of the best players in the nation were dying to play for Tubby, we'd have a roster of at least 100 scholarship players. :)
 

LOL

Dr.Don said:
callihan...If all of the best players in the nation were dying to play for Tubby, we'd have a roster of at least 100 scholarship players. :)
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Yes, and Tubby would likely still be at Kentucky enjoying his 7 or 8 Championship rings!

:D
 



anticallihan said:
But at the same time Tubby isn't a kill-shot recruiter. The best players in the nation are not dying to play for him.
Click to expand...

The best recruiters are (probably) Roy Williams, Bill Self, and John Calipari.

Tubby is a very good recruiter but he's pretty honest with recruits. That turns some off. But he signed talented recruits at Tulsa, Georgia, Kentucky, and Minnesota so he CAN recruit pretty well.
 

EG#9 said:
I do think Seth Davis is completely off the mark on the off court issues of this team. Mbakwe's situation happened before he ever set foot on the campus of Minnesota as a student. Royce White had one issue that was clearly significant at the Mall of America. The second incident? It sure doesn't seem like a big deal. Al Nolen failed to pass his classes, many teams have one player become academically ineligible at one point or another. Not having Mbakwe, White, and Nolen cost us a chance at a Big Ten title, but I don't think the off cour behavior (under Tubby's watch) has been terrible by an stretch.
Click to expand...

Seth's comments were all fair and reasonable.

Mbakwe has had character issues and was a risk. The handling of the current legal matter by him and the U has been poor.

White had issues before he stepped foot on campus, and Tubby knew it. It's not just about the MOA incident and "those silly little misdemeanor trespassing charges".

Nolen's situation is bad. Very disappointing and it does reflect poorly on the school and the coaches.

The off the court problems are significant and ugly. There is no doubt that Tubby is an upgrade compared to Monson, but you could say the same about a turd floating in a toilet at First Ave.

This was a top-15 team with the potential to be mentioned in the Big Ten title chase if things went well. Even without White and Mbakwe, they could be a top-25/30 team, but they have underachieved. There is time left. But there certainly has not been a 'huge improvement' yet.

PS-FOT, Pastner is looking pretty good on the recruiting front as well!!
 

The next time I listen to anything Seth Davis says will be the first time. He's just another pompous windbag. The really depressing thing is that he fits right in with all the other windbags currently employed by major media conglomerates.
 

"nothing short of brilliant" was probably a stretch in the first place. As is "forgive me if I don't see "huge progress." What I see instead is a program with far too many problems off the court.". The truth lies somewhere in the middle. Tubby has done a good job to get the program back on track, but that's what he's done so far, gotten it back on track. We're still not where we wanna be, and I don't think we're anywhere near where Tubby wants to be. But you know what? This is Year 3, and despite all the crap that's gone on this year, they're still in the mix. And who knows, get those guys back for next season, and suddenly, everyone's lauding Tubby for his patience and how the program's in great shape. Things can change quickly like that.
 

Friend Of Tubby said:
But Mbakwe showed nothing to predict he would get in trouble (felony charges).

And Nolen made his own mistake(s), not Tubby or the other coaches.
Click to expand...

Depends how you look at character. Moving schools is never a good sign. At the same time I look at all these problems on the team happening at once. It is not some fluke.
 

EG#9 said:
I like that Tubby's here, but there is no way this year can be spun to be anything other than a huge disappointment.

I do think Seth Davis is completely off the mark on the off court issues of this team. Mbakwe's situation happened before he ever set foot on the campus of Minnesota as a student. Royce White had one issue that was clearly significant at the Mall of America. The second incident? It sure doesn't seem like a big deal. Al Nolen failed to pass his classes, many teams have one player become academically ineligible at one point or another. Not having Mbakwe, White, and Nolen cost us a chance at a Big Ten title, but I don't think the off court behavior (under Tubby's watch) has been terrible by an stretch.
Click to expand...

WOW! I have never seen anyone spin something so much in my life! That was impressive.
On a serious note, we all need to understand that Tubby doesn't have a magic wand that saves dead basketball programs. I'm not sure whose fault it is that Minnesota has been nothing more than mediocre in the last 2-plus years, but I think some, not all, of the blame goes on coach Smith's shoulders.
As a Big Gopher Fan, I must say that I have been abundantly frustrated with the progress of the program this season. How is it that a team can bring back its entire rotation and seem to regress? The Gophers' half-court offense can be downright painful to watch sometimes and I don't always understand Tubby's substitution patterns.
But let's be honest, Minnesota isn't a magnet for top prep basketball talent. The program is forced to target second and third-tier prospects when a number of other programs in the conference like Ohio State and Michigan State can go after whomever it would like and settle for second and third-tier players to fill in specific roles. Think about it, a 4 star guy like Korie Lucious would play much more at Minnesota than at MSU, where he is right now.
Tubby has done a fine job getting 3/4 star players to sign with the Gophers and it's yet to be seen if most of these guys (Iverson, RS III, Joseph, White, Williams, Cobbs, Carter, Bostick) will put together decent college careers. Right now, Tubby is playing with two groups of players. One that signed with Monson and another that signed with him. However, at this point, the three best players on the team (1. Johnson, 2. Hoffarber, 3. Westbrook) are Monson recruits. I know each is an upperclassman, but in this age of college basketball, that really doesn't matter as much. Tubby was never a recruiting wizard at Kentucky. He did a GREAT job of letting the program sell itself. At this point, the Gopher brand isn't worth much in terms of attracting elite prep basketball talent.
Bottom line, Minnesota simply doesn't have good enough players to compete for a Big 10 title right now.
However, if White and Mbakwe get their $hit together and play ALL of next season, I like our chances.
 

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